Strangers at a Park Bench
by Vallory Russups
Summary: Soulmate AU. Perhaps coming to the park to see a smile was not what an average high-schooler did for fun, but it picked him up when he was down, and could Tsuna truly be faulted for that? Fon/Tsuna. KHR Rare Pair Week 2018, Storm Day


_Ages:_

 _Tsuna is 17 at the start, 18-19 at the end, when he actually enters a relationship with Fon. I-Pin is a couple years younger. Hibari is 2 years older than Tsuna, as in canon. Fon is in his twenties and a young uncle to both Kyoya and I-Pin._

* * *

Every day after school Tsuna went to the park to glimpse the stranger.

The park had been Tsuna's reprieve even before that. He found himself a secluded corner and owned it, often bringing his favourite manga to read and buying a crepe or candy floss from one of the stalls not too far. Strangely, his bullies avoided that place. Rumours said that it was haunted, but in all the time Tsuna visited, the only 'ghost' was himself.

Until one day.

He took the latest Shounen Jump issue and prepared himself to drift away into the realm of escapism, only to find a strange man already occupying his spot. He was tall and handsome, with a long black braid and warm mahogany eyes looking _at_ Tsuna rather than through him.

Nervous to sit with someone he didn't know, he clumsily pretended he was passing by even though he had clearly been heading for that bench, when the man stopped him.

"Please don't mind me, Tsunayoshi-kun," he said in a pleasant voice that soothed Tsuna on a level he hadn't known existed. "There is more than enough space here for both of us, no need to change your habits because of me."

There should have been questions Tsuna needed to ask, starting from 'How do you know my name?' and finishing with 'How do you know my habits? Did you _watch_ me?'

He would forever be glad he didn't ask them.

Tsuna liked to attribute it to his strange gut instinct that warned him of bullies sometimes and of sudden tests or what material to revise, but the truth was that he had tired himself out worrying about a million other things the week before, and now this man could be a serial killer and Tsuna absolutely lacked the emotional capacity to care about that.

He shuffled to the other end of the bench, hunched awkwardly at the edge. The wood was warmed up by the sun and Tsuna regretted not feeling relaxed enough to lie back and doze off - he needed that, especially after his mother got herself a new friend, a Bianchi Scorpione who would have been a nice enough lady had it not been for her insistence on feeding him the food she cooked, which tasted atrocious.

The stranger, rather than pay any attention to him, just hummed a tune under his breath and leaned back, his face raised to the sun. Tsuna couldn't help but sneak glances at him, although the man didn't look at him at all. The way the stranger breathed reminded him of the meditation techniques the new transfer girl tried to show him. Her name was I-Pin and she actually seemed willing to become his first friend.

And that's how the day passed.

Tsuna lost himself in the adventures of a shounen manga hero whose successes he could never reach, while the strange man meditated by his side. Once the evening darkness crept on, Tsuna gathered his books into his school bag only to remember the boxed lunch his mum had packed him for the day out.

He was actually quite hungry. His stomach growled.

He glanced at the stranger, then the lunch.

"Excuse me?" he called uncertainly. The man cracked his eyes open. Tsuna held back his breath at how unexpectedly gentle and attentive they were, paying more attention in a minute than anyone else had bothered for years. "Would you like some cabbage rolls and onigiri?"

He wasn't even sure why he asked. Was it because no one had ever shared lunch with him?

The stranger widened his eyes before a faint smile crept on his face. It was beautiful and genuine and the first smile Tsuna had ever received from someone other than his mum, Bianchi, or I-Pin.

"It would be my pleasure."

That shared lunch was the first but not the last.

The questions from before didn't disappear but drifted to the outskirts of his mind, where he didn't bother to find them. Maybe he was just stupid, but a strong feeling deep inside kept insisting that stranger danger did not apply there and he had nothing to be scared of. He could have asked I-Pin or someone else about that man, but Tsuna hoarded those shared hours, refusing to share them even with the people he grew close to.

The stranger's presence relaxed him. There, Tsuna learnt to meditate through the distant chatter of people and the chittering of squirrels, through the stranger's low humming and his own depressing thoughts trying to cram into his mind.

At the beginning, Tsuna was the one to bring the lunches while the stranger would buy the drinks and street food in return. Eventually, the man began carrying a thermos with different Chinese teas on him that he poured into delicate teacups that would have been more appropriate at an important social gathering or a noble's house and didn't belong in a tiny nook in a park forgotten by the majority of Namimori population.

The stranger - who at some point disclosed that his name was 'Fon' and that he found out about Tsuna through the intimidating and violent Hibari-san as well as the sweet I-Pin who became Tsuna's first friend through all these meetings - wasn't there all the time.

Sometimes Tsuna would come and the bench would be empty. He would wait there, his shoes on the ground and knees tucked under his chin, his fingers lazily turning the pages of a generic heroic manga with generic heroic characters whose exploits Tsuna could recount in his sleep but somehow couldn't stop reading.

Sometimes Tsuna would come and the bench would not be empty, but the stranger sitting on it would. His brown eyes would dim and even that smile would slip off his face, and he would sit and look hollow, as if sitting in front of Tsuna was a shell and the real man was worlds and realms away.

Those instances reminded Tsuna of his mama, back when she was waiting for Iemitsu to come and until she realised he never would.

Tsuna knew the stranger wasn't waiting for anyone but the pain was there, and Tsuna, being himself, wanted it gone. So, he made himself talk brightly and extensively about the latest video games he played, and turned on relaxing music on his cellphone, and beckoned cats (which grew used to their presence and the fact that both Tsuna and Fon cared about animals enough to bring some food especially for them) to dump them on Fon's lap so the men could pet them together, their hands touching for an electifying second every time.

The best part of those visits were the smiles.

Fon had a way of listening to him like he heard every word that Tsuna said, and a way of smiling that shamelessly proclaimed how pleased he was every time they saw each other.

By then, Tsuna had forged a closer relationship with Bianchi who somehow ended up as his stepmum in the meantime, and a struck a true friendship with I-Pin who gave him hand-made charms and warded off Hibari-san, his biggest bully. He shouldn't be as needy for affection and single-minded focus - but he was.

Fon's honest smiles made his heart beat ten times faster. Tsuna couldn't resist, and that's how he ended up in the park, always, at their unspoken meeting place.

Perhaps coming to the park to see a smile was not what an average high-schooler did for fun, but it picked him up when he was down, and could Tsuna truly be faulted for that?

* * *

Fon first found out about Sawada Tsunayoshi through his wildcat of a nephew.

Their whole family had a peculiar gift, sometimes called a curse, sometimes a blessing. They could see the threads of fate. Or rather, the threads connecting people who would make a great impact on each other. Most of the time, it led to romance and nights of passions, which made everyone in the clan gush about it, calling the people connected by those threads 'soulmates' and choosing their partners based on them.

Fon, always an outlier in his family, disagreed. He had seen too many cases where the 'impact' brought upon nothing but destruction to both parties, but part of his opinions stemmed from old bitterness, never buried, left out to rot in the open ever since his childhood.

Fon was born with not a single thread.

Now, since threads _could_ both appear and grow, this wasn't a huge issue - but it turned into one when years passed, yet all he had still was a thin, wispy little thing with hardly any life, so transparent he couldn't guess the colour.

His father told him with brutal honesty what it meant: Fon was destined to go through life all alone, never making significant impact on anyone nor being impacted by anyone. Always solitary. Always removed.

Fon ground his teeth and didn't cry once. But every night, without fail, he checked the little thread he had and cradled it, smiling, imagining. His niece, I-Pin, who was born with the same ability, was the only one to understand despite the several strong knotted strings entwining her fate with that of strangers' she longed to meet.

But no matter how much he treasured what he had, everything in him rebelled and raged when he saw his nephew Kyoya with a strong soul-bond vibrating with life around his wrist.

"Congratulations," Fon told him tightly then and tried to forget his knowledge of martial arts and memories of death accompanying him always - meditation was one reprieve from his bitterness, but he joined the Chinese Triads to gain another. Killing didn't make his thread grow stronger but it was a common hobby no one in his clan protested and it prevented him from killing himself, so Fon counted that as a win.

Kyoya shot him a disdainful look. Huffed.

"They're unnecessary. I've met my soulmate." Kyoya frowned even as Fon's breath hitched and his whole universe exploded with longing. "He is a disappointing herbivore."

Fon smiled pleasantly even though he wanted to wring the little bastard's neck. He had one nephew, and that was one nephew too many.

"Now, Kyoya. Don't be like this. How about giving him a chance? If he is disappointing you in some respect, perhaps it is your duty to help him - that's the 'impact' part of the bond, isn't it? Or you could get to know him better. You may discover unexpected qualities to his character that will move you."

"I have no time for such things when there is discipline in Namimori to uphold," Kyoya told him curtly. He rubbed his red pin gently, then softened his eyes at his wrist, at the deep purple rope of light shimmering around it. "No matter how much he disappoints me, we _are_ soulmates. I'm sure he will fix his personality someday."

"I think you might be misunderstanding how soulmates work-"

"And I am already helping him with it. I've bit him to death twelve times just this week. We are working on that." Kyoya crossed his arms. "It is _my_ bond. Don't shove your nose in other people's business. You are a carnivore, but even this won't excuse you next time."

Fon could have wiped the floor with the boy, but the rest of the family probably wouldn't appreciate the reduction in the number of Hibaris.

Instead, he decided to see for himself just what type of person Kyoya's soulmate was. And maybe buy several bottles of sake for the poor bloke - he would need it.

He didn't expect to meet Sawada Tsunayoshi, just an elementary-schooler at the time and a boy so unlike Kyoya that Fon thought he stole the wrong files.

He also didn't expect the way they first met. Thankfully, Tsunayoshi didn't remember him from that time.

He had planned to catch a glimpse of the boy near the school or at a shopping centre, but no, their very first meeting happened when Tsuna got lost in a forest their class visited as a school trip, and Fon had just buried a body. A hood covered his tell-tale braid and striking eyes. He still had splotches of blood on his clothes, his boots were crusted with dirt, and when a small cute kid ran in tears towards Fon - who was still holding his shovel - it didn't make the situation any less awkward for him.

The boy he recognised from Kyoya's photos as Sawada Tsunayoshi blabbered something unintelligible. By then he didn't seem sure himself whether he was more scared of the forest and being lost or this weird stranger that crawled out of a horror film. He just... cried. And cried. And cried.

Fon wondered if he would kill Kyoya's relationship with his future soulmate if he simply hit the boy lightly with his shovel and bring him home to leave on the doorstep.

He should probably spend more time with normal people like I-Pin than his Triad colleagues if that's where his thoughts jumped to.

"Please don't cry," Fon murmured as soothingly as he could. Taking off his gloves, he crouched on the ground and ruffled the boy's fluffy hair that had probably never seen a comb. "Are you lost?"

The boy flinched but didn't run away. He sobbed a little more before nodding shyly.

"They... left me there. Hiro-kun and Takada-san," he whispered through snot and tears. Fon had no handkerchief on hand to wipe them.

"I need to finish up a little something here, and then we can go search for your teacher and classmates. I'm sure they're looking for you all over the forest."

Which wasn't good. There was a fresh grave there, just a step or two behind him.

The boy, Tsunayoshi, shook his head.

"They aren't. They... like it when I'm not there." He stared at his dirty shoes and mumbled so softly into the collar of his jacket that Fon barely heard him, "I like it when I'm not there, too. They don't hit me, then."

"I can hit them for you," Fon offered. He'd beat up and killed enough kids in his Triad jobs. He only mourned for the bond-less, empty ones. "Or I can teach you how to hit them."

Tsuna shook his head again. It was a cute gesture, even if it messed up his hair even more.

"No! I- Mama told me that violence isn't the- the answer?" he trailed off uncertainly. His eyes, however, burnt with fire. Fon almost leaned back on his haunches because he was just noticing how bright and almost orange they were. A powerful look for such a tiny young boy. "I know how much it hurts when they hit me. So, I... I don't want anyone to hurt the same."

Fon thought to all the instances of spiteful happiness that washed over him when he killed the people whose soul-bonds were the strongest. The glee of watching the thread of fate _sing_ one single time before wrinkling and disintegrating.

Tsuna's words... touched something inside him that had never been touched, shamed him when he had never felt shame ever since fully realising that he would essentially leave this world as a ghost, lonely and alone.

He didn't even hear what Tsuna was saying because in the next second he gasped and grasped the string thickening around his wrist.

Now, he finally knew who was on the other end of it.

Afterwards, he helped Tsuna get back to his class.

Years passed. He was scared that his elation at finding Tsuna would lead to him making some unfortunate decisions that would break such a young boy, thus he left for China. He came back occasionally, to check up both on his sweet I-Pin and Tsuna. One day he found Bianchi and wheedled a favour out of her, which benefitted both him and her: he asked her to watch after Nana, seeing the string of fate connecting them both. He wasn't surprised when the promised time ended, yet Bianchi stayed with Tsuna's mother. Later, he also sent I-Pin to school there, who was happy to help her favourite uncle.

Meeting Tsuna that time in the park was a treat he could die for.

Since then, he had acquired many precious memories, but he would never forget their first meeting and Tsuna's naive but precious words that sparked their soul-bond into growth.

* * *

Tsuna doubted he would have got through the final exams without the help of Fon.

His teachers and classmates were bearing down on him for his low grades, his mum was unhappy with his messy room (even if Bianchi successfully distracted her. Still, Tsuna hadn't _wanted_ to know how Bianchi distracted her), his father suddenly popped on the horizon with flowers and serenades after Nana filed for divorce, Hibari-san cornered and harrassed him all day long even though he wasn't even a student anymore...

But the bench in the park remained the single stronghold of calm.

Moreover, after a while Fon offered help with the material after Tsuna spent half a day scratching his chin at a math problem.

"Um... Sorry for being so slow." Tsuna lowered his eyes to watch the dirt he was toeing with his shoes. "It must be annoying. I... I probably should stop coming to bother you."

A gentle hand touched his elbow.

"Please don't," Fon told him in a patient voice Tsuna had never heard from anyone but him. "Your presence makes everything better. Including me."

"What do you mean?"

Making anything or anyone better was not something Tsuna had ever been accused of.

Fon smiled and hummed in thought, lifting a fallen petal from Tsuna's mess of hair. The brunette scowled.

"I'm not a very good person," Fon confessed.

Tsuna shivered, because he hadn't missed the strange spots of dried red on Fon's clothes or how fast he dealt with the group of men that tried to rob them.

Tsuna was probably an evil person, but... he couldn't hate or avoid Fon because of that. Not when the man brought so much light into his life.

"I know," he told him simply and huffed in laughter at Fon's comically widened eyes. He bet the man thought Tsuna would say something flattering. But Tsuna had no intention of skirting over the issue, not when he could see how much Fon worried about Tsuna's acceptance. "But I like you anyway."

That afternoon they spent with their hands entwined.

* * *

Yet another day started with temptation.

With assassin's gentle footsteps, Fon neared their bench and watched the rise and fall of Tsuna's chest. The boy was sprawled on his stomach, his schoolbag pressed down by his chest and the thin arm tucked beneath his chin, the sleeve of his uniform catching a tiny string of drool. His messy hair exposed a long, thin neck Fon dreamt of kissing.

Heat simmered in his gut.

It would be easy to lean down and steal that kiss. To caress Tsuna's soft-skinned face, his cheeks, his lips. Fon envisioned his hands getting daring, getting greedy - he pinched his own wrist. Resisted the temptation.

Perhaps he could steal that one kiss. Perhaps Tsuna would even forgive him. Perhaps he would never find out. But would it really stop at just one?

Fon knew it wouldn't.

He would want more. He knew his greed, as intimately as he knew the crackle of violence that surged beneath his skin, the _crack_ of bones splintering beneath his fingertips, the official burial sights and the burial sights that _he_ frequented, each time with a 'friend' hanging off his shoulder in a body bag.

If he touched Tsuna in that way without his knowledge or permission, Fon would make him part of his hidden world, hidden even from Tsuna himself.

Slowly extending his hand, he reached down, for Tsuna's shoulder, and shook the younger boy awake gently.

"Mmm..." Tsuna mumbled into the crook of his arm. He blearily opened his eyes and blinked a few times at Fon's form looming over him. "Fon? What are..." He flopped onto his elbow clumsily. Looked around. "I fell asleep in the park again, didn't I?"

The Martial artist smiled tenderly and, with a nod, sat down, pushing Tsuna's legs off the bench.

"Yes. It's a bad habit you should shake off in the future." Fon sighed. "Why do you always insist on doing things that worry me? You never know what kind of monster would stumble on you, sleepy head."

"It wasn't on purpose," Tsuna muttered through a sleepy sigh that transformed into a yawn half-way. The way he blinked tears off his lashes made Fon's heart melt and beat faster. "And besides. Wouldn't you always be there to protect me?"

Fon froze.

"Of course I will. Please don't doubt it."

The bond between them thrummed louder. Fon could see its colour clearly now - red like the peonies I-Pin planted in the garden. Not a colour that deserved being hidden and tainted.

After a second of hesitation, he took Tsuna's hand and rubbed it gently between his own much larger ones. When Tsuna didn't push him away but clenched Fon tighter, he felt like all his mortal limitations, the limitations of destiny and soul-bonds, they all fell away. Stopped mattering like the worries of yesterday that seem a trifle in the morning.

All that remained was the sunlit bench, the kittens playing with each others' tails by Tsuna's feet, the smell of crepes teasing their senses, and the overwhelming hope that moments like these would last forever.

* * *

One day, Tsuna broke the misconceptions certain people had about him.

He summoned lots of courage. Before going to the meeting, he fingered the little charm I-Pin made for him, tapped the bonsai plant Fon gifted him, and found strange relief in Bianchi's "I'm your mother now. Tell me whom I have to poison."

After all this, he went to the Hibari residence.

"Hibari-san," he started with a respectful bow. His former senpai looked him over critically, frowning when he noticed Tsuna's dishevelled hair and untidy shoe-laces. "Regarding what you said the other day... My answer is no."

Hibari's eyes narrowed, hands thrumming with tension that told Tsuna pretty clearly how soon tonfas would fly.

"It was no question. I informed you that we have always been destined to be together, and now that you are finally of age, it's time."

Looking Tsuna down, he didn't sound particularly excited.

"I already have someone I like."

Blushing, Tsuna looked down and fiddled with his fingers. This was the first time he ever admitted it aloud. He should say it to Fon, too, after this disaster of a meeting.

"You don't understand," Hibari told him, voice beautiful and cold and harsh, like everything about him. Tsuna yearned for Fon's gentle guidance to help him deal with this, but there were trials that would only make him stronger if overcome alone. "You are _meant_ to belong to me. Did that man never explain you?"

That was the longest Hibari had ever talked to him regarding things that weren't school or punishment.

"Fon did explain. I'm sorry, Hibari-san," Tsuna told him even though he was anything but. "I don't know much about Fate but I do know enough about not wanting to spend my life with a person who cannot differentiate between lust and blood-lust."

Tsuna walked away and tricked himself into believing that he missed the single moment of heartbreak splattered across Hibari's face.

If he hadn't missed it, he would have compelled himself to stay. Years ago, he would have stayed regardless, desperate to mould himself into anything just for a chance to belong.

However, Fon and his smiles, his wisdom, and his tender gestures instilled in Tsuna enough self-confidence to step away from a man in whose world love and violence meant the same.

* * *

"Are you sure?" Fon asked in worry, even as everything in him sang at Tsuna's confession. "Kyoya is... His bond was meant to be strongest with you."

"Screw 'meant to'," Tsuna snapped, making Fon blink before erupting in laughter - his Tsuna was too cute, with his nose scrunched and a little pout on his lips. Tsuna would fight him to death insisting he was not pouting. "I don't have your eyes, and if I don't see fate, it doesn't exist. I'm choosing you, and that's final."

Fon leaned down to place a sweet kiss on the back of Tsuna's hand. Tsuna's skin was soft and Fon smelled vanilla essence and lemons he has just used in baking a pie with I-Pin - the three of them now shared a house, and it was the first time Fon came home.

Their bond was redder than the peonies outside the window.

"I'm... happy." Fon whispered into the soft skin. He already mentally went through potential rings he could gift Tsuna to adorn those slim, beautiful fingers he could spend a lifetime kissing. "It's not an emotion I'm used to, but right now I'm really happy."

Tsuna leaned his forehead against Fon's, taking his hand gently.

"Me too. It's a pity we won't see each other on that bench as much anymore. I don't expect the city authorities would let us have it?"

Fon detached himself from Tsuna and smirked.

"Oh dear. Fon. You didn't."

"If you're telling me I didn't steal it, I have to disappoint you; I did. Look out the window into out backyard. Oh, and while we're at it - I guess I stole the cats, too. But they were very happy to be stolen, so I don't consider it a crime."

Tsuna laughed, throwing himself into Fon's arms.

"How is _this_ disappointing? I love you so much." Tsuna's breath tickled Fon's neck. Fon remembered that he hadn't shown Tsuna all the wonders of their bedroom yet, and I-Pin conveniently left to spend a couple of days at Nana and Bianchi's house for an all-girl party.

"So, are you ever planning on kissing your soulmate?"

* * *

\- That was my entry for KHR Rare Pair Week 2018. Storm Day: Soulmate AU / Body Disposal.

\- Funnily enough, originally this fic was supposed to be a much longer three-shot and Hibari's personality was actually the opposite: he was supposed to be all 'screw the bonds, Imma go make my own fate', while Fon wanted to wait around forever for his soulmate to notice him. However, when I got down to writing, it grew... into this.

\- The impact Tsuna had on Hibari is outside the frame, but it boils down to Tsuna being the first guy to say 'no' and teach Hibari that destiny means nothing. They were supposed to have several conversations about the whole thing and become friends, and Hibari was also supposed to grow close to I-Pin - you can assume that these things do happen after this.

\- Really hope that you enjoyed it!


End file.
